The graph below shows the top priorities by business companies in the USA in 2016.
Sample Response
The bar graph showsoutlines the comparisoncomparative analysis of the American companies'American company's top five priorities in 2016 by company sizeaccording to the size of the company. Overall,The striking feature to note is that regardless of company sizeirrespective of the size of the companies, the highest priorityprimary importance was given to increasing the number of contacts/leadsraising the number of contacts and converting them intoto customers. In detailLooking deep at the details, the two highest priorities across all company sizesevery company's two top priorities were to increase contacts/leadsto keep on increasing leads and to convert those contacts/leads into customersto turn those leads into customers. Small businesses, with 0-25 employees, gave equal emphasis to these two aspects. Companies with 26-200 employeesBut a company with 26-200 employees gave lead generationthe lead generation and customer conversion the highest prioritiespriority. Since small and medium companies spent more on lead generation, they focused less on cost minimisation to gain customers. Contrary to this, 30% priority was set by large organisations (more than 201 employees) to reduce this cost and they set the target to earn profit from existing customers. Medium-sized industry indicated 47% to both increasing revenues derived from existing customers and providing ROI of marketing activities, whereas, 55% and 58% precedence from a large company and 43% and 33% from the small company was assigned respectively to the same objectives.
Why this response received Band 7.5
The response identifies the dominant priorities clearly and supports its account with accurate comparisons across all three company sizes. Its strongest feature is the well-selected numerical detail, while its main limitation is awkward phrasing in several descriptions of percentages and priorities. The highest priority is to retain the accurate comparisons but express them through more natural data-reporting structures, particularly in the dense final sentence.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The overview is accurate and the response selects the leading priorities and relevant figures for every company size with only minor imprecision in interpretation.
Keep the description strictly tied to priority percentages rather than implying that the chart directly measures company spending.
Coherence and Cohesion
Information is ordered from the main pattern to size-specific details, and references generally connect comparisons clearly.
Divide the detailed comparisons into clearer groups and avoid packing four figures and two objectives into one closing sentence.
Lexical Resource
There is a good range of topic-specific vocabulary, although expressions such as "30% priority" and "precedence from a large company" are unnatural.
Use conventional chart language such as "was prioritised by 30%" and "the corresponding figures were" for greater precision.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
Most sentences show effective control of varied structures, but the final comparison contains faulty agreement and an overloaded passive construction.
Match plural percentage subjects with plural verbs and simplify complex comparison sentences to maintain grammatical control.
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IELTS Academic Writing Task 1
The graph below shows the top priorities by business companies in the USA in 2016.
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.